Archives : Candidate Help

You have finally reached the point in your life when you want to spread your wings and find greener pastures. It is time to look for new job and move on. You presently work with good people, but the offer is just to irresistible to turn down. A few days after you turn in our resignation letter, our boss approaches you and makes a counteroffer. It’s a surprise that now leaves you with a question of should you keep working there or should you leave? Sadly, it is not a simple question to answer.

A recent survey about resignation practices, almost 40% of HR leaders and senior executives agreed that when an exiting employee accepts a counter offer from the employer being left, it is not good at all. Even so, 80% of HR superiors and 78% of senior heads say that it is sometimes good to accept a counteroffer. These instances are rarely the same and it is difficult to identify the specific times they may happen.

It is undeniable that counteroffers are part of today’s company life. In the past years, there have been an increase in counteroffers, though no statistical hard data is available to prove it. These counteroffers are stressful for everyone concerned. There is tough competition for great talent and resignees are often tempted by unexpected counteroffers. If you suddenly find yourself in the same boat, here are considerations to help you:

• Money is vital but it should never be the sole reason for leaving or staying. The declaration to leave the company is often greeted by the question of money. In the study mentioned earlier, several executives said that it is an acceptable reason for leaving, but it should not be the only reason. Despite the promise of many companies that they help manage the careers of their employees, they usually don’t. Because of this, it is acceptable for employees to manage their own career by choosing the right job and employer.
• Think about the consequences of accepting the offer. If you accept the counteroffer, 60% of HR heads and 80% of chief executives say that the trust will be diminished. Also, the reputation of the board and executives will be compromised. The same goes for the rejected new company. Moving forward, 67% of HR heads and 71% of chief executives say that the higher-ups of the current company would end up questioning their employee’s loyalty. Watch out for the damage that comes with renegotiation an offer after accepting it.
• Keep an eye on the track record. Contemplate if your career will, indeed, benefit from that counteroffer. Sadly, counteroffers usually do not work. If they do work for the employee, it would only be for a short while. The employee who wanted to leave then held back would leave anyway after a certain period.
• Pay attention to the decision. When your boss tells you that they have been contemplating on giving you a better position, think about accepting it. This is a genuine reaction that could benefit your career. Ask yourself if you believe your boss would eventually give you the position if you stayed. If you think this is just a tactic to hold on to their employees because of the sheer difficulty experienced replacements, then it would be best not to accept the counteroffer.
• Step back a while. If certainty still isn’t there for you, it would be best to seek the advice of a trusted mentor to assess your situation. Your reputation is at stake. Once you are completely sure about your decision, you can easily reject the counteroffers (fake or otherwise) if doing so is for your good.

. Taking or rejecting the counteroffer can definitely shape your career and your future. Discern and then decide.

During an interview you need to mind your manners and follow an unspoken code of
etiquette. This is more than your mom’s “keep your elbows off the table.” Business
manners are going to be key, an interview is so much more than what you have to say – it
is how you present (or sell) yourself. If part of the job you are applying for is dealing
with clients or executives from other companies, you can be guaranteed how you act is
part of the decision making process.

Eye contact, you have to be able to maintain eye contact without being uncomfortable.
There are some acceptable ways to do this. If you are answering a question, it is okay to
glance away when gathering your thoughts but if you are listening to someone keep your
attention focused on them (even if their eyes are wandering). This shows good manners
and that you care about what they have to say.

Do not under any circumstances have gum or a mint in your mouth during the interview.
If you want to be sure that you have fresh breath, chew gum or suck on the mint before
arriving at your destination but discard or finish them before you enter the building. It is
distracting and rude to have them in your mouth when answering questions.

Use your interviewer’s name, ideally you found out who you would be interviewed by
when the meeting was arranged. If it isn’t provided to you, be sure to ask who you will
be meeting with and their position. When you arrive, shake hands and greet the person
by name. If you are just learning their name, repeat it and remember it. You want to be
sure to get it right and thank them for their time when you are leaving.

Sometimes – or more like every time – you go for an interview, your nerves make it hard
to concentrate and answer questions to the best of your ability. The important thing to
remember is to really listen to the questions being asked. If the interviewer tells you they
want a specific example, don’t answer with a general how you would do something – it is
a surefire way to ruin your chances for the job.

These types of questions are known as situational questions. If an interviewer were to
say to you, “Tell us about your favorite vacation.” You wouldn’t respond by telling them
about all the places you would like to go or make a generalization:

“My favorite vacation is to go someplace hot with my family and sit on the beach.”

Instead, you should answer as specifically as possible including all the pertinent details:

“My favorite vacation was two years ago when I went to California with my family. We
spent a lot of time on the beach. It was very relaxing.”

The second answer adds credibility. It is obvious that you are providing information
from something that actually happened as opposed to making something up just to
answer the question.

Potential employers are trying to gauge how you react or perform in specific situations.
Common questions that are asked include:

“Tell me about a time you led a team project.” Include what the project was, how many
people, and any challenges including how you overcame them.

“Tell me about a conflict you had with a co-worker.” Only pick situations that had a
positive outcome.

Employers today want to know how you are going to perform on the job before they even
hire you. By answering situational questions specifically you can assure the interviewer
you have the skills and thought processes that they are looking for.

Claudio Fernández-Aráoz –a regulatory recruiter with more than 30 years of experience tells a story about looking for a CEO for a small company. While working with the outgoing CEO he learned a great deal and believed that the man he had helped to hire had all the right stuff.

He was a well thought of professional with the right schools and the right background. What’s more, he had worked for all the right companies. He’d scored remarkably well in every avenue. In spite of all of those things, he simply did not adjust well to the massive changes going on in regulatory and after three years of sub-par performance, he was asked to leave the company.

Why did he do so poorly? He lacked one thing that simply couldn’t be tested—the ability to adapt to new and changing situations. He did not have that ability and as such was unable to fulfill the role for which the company had hired him and for which they needed him so badly.

The recruiters who have spent the most time tracking and finding the best executives in marketing, in regulatory and in food manufacturing agree on one thing—nothing is quite as important today as the potential and adaptability of the candidate. It is the harbinger of success at nearly every level, from the most junior executive to the C-suite and beyond.

Learning how to identify that potential and use it to find the right person for the job is imperative to your success as a recruiter. It is a new era of talent spotting. Intelligence, experience and performance in the past are only a part of the equation.

Potential is a fair amount of it but it’s also the part that may be the most difficult to ascertain and to discern than how competent they are. Not only is it hard to find but you’re looking for it in a marketplace that is the most difficult in the past ten years.

Senior talent is scarcer than ever before due to the vast changes in the marketplace in the past few years. Due to globalization, to age demographics and to the companies who are not properly developing a pipeline of future company leaders, it is more difficult than ever before for companies to have the leadership they need when they need it.

This problem is not confined to small companies or to large ones but seems to be universal. In 2014, Price Waterhouse did a survey of CEOs. The survey encompassed more than 65 countries and over 60 percent of those companies said that they were “concerned about the future availability of key skills at all levels.” In addition, The Boston Consulting Group cited research that showed that more than 56% of executives can see where they have critical problems in their ability to fill senior roles in the years ahead.

That makes recognizing potential more important than ever before. How then, do you accomplish that? What is the best way to recognize the potential for a given job and to take the new method of talent spotting into account when you evaluate candidates?

Be Prepared. It’s a tired old cliché in many cases but it works for more than just the Boy Scouts.
Presumably, when you applied for the job, you actually wanted it. That means taking steps to anticipate and prepare for the questions that you may be asked is the best way to make sure that you have a good answer.

Interviewers from top companies in the world stated that the key to making an impression on them was to be ready for the interview in every way.

They said that they could always tell when a candidate had prepared themselves mentally for any eventuality. Those were invariably—according to them—the people who stood out and stood the best chance of a second interview.

When candidates research and anticipate the most likely questions they will be asked and then research the answers to those questions they are well prepared to handle the interview gracefully.
Preparing for the interview in such a way as to have concise, positive and very persuasive responses to the interview questions is the best way to ensure that you stand out from the crowd.
Most of the questions that you’ll be asked in any interview, from executive to manufacturing are going to be geared toward finding out more about the candidate. Companies want to know who you are, what motivates you and why you should be hired.

Nearly every interviewer in the world is going to be focused on 3 points. Can this person do the job well? Will this person do the job well? Does this person fit into our company culture and with our other employees?

To that end, some of the questions that you can anticipate are going to be tough questions designed to give your interviewer the answer to those three points.

The first interview there are are going to be tough questions asked –mainly about your skills and about you and you need to be very at ease with those subjects in a way that many candidates are not.
Really sit down and ask yourself hard questions about the job and why you think it’s a good fit for you. Err on the side of caution if you must but ask yourself what skills will serve you best in this job, what you bring to the table and what will make you the best fit. Why should the job go to you?

What makes you a good fit? Know your skills intimately. Most of us know what we can do and we tend to be more critical than we are aware of our going points. To come out on top of an executive interview you’re going to need to be both.
Don’t just state that specific skill but be prepared to give examples of it from work or home or a volunteer job. The best responses that you can give include when you had to use a given skill. An example might be ” I can think on my feet” and then give an example of when that was necessary and how the situation played out so that the interviewer can see where your ability benefited you or your job.

Critique your own performance if you must but be sure that you allow yourself credit where it’s due. Answer the questions that you are asked truthfully and fully, giving them insights into what does make you the person who till take their company to new heights.

What are the most commonly asked questions at executive interviews? If you’re going for an executive job in the medical field, research the most commonly asked questions about that arena and then prepare your responses so that you know what they will be long before the questions are asked.